Force Storms
by Vialco
Summary: Darth Caedus tries a new Force technique to defeat the Confederation with catastrophic results, set between Sacrifice and Inferno, LOTF Era.


ARKANIA, THREE DAYS AFTER THE DEATH OF MARA JADE SKYWALKER

A Confederation Fleet spread out over the planet Arkania, Corellian Dreadnaughts taking the point, while Commenorian and Fondorian Star Destroyers guarded the flanks. Bothan Assault Cruisers formed up behind the Dreadnaughts, the entire fleet moving toward the white-blue world that was their target.

Above Arkania, enemy ships were arraying themselves in a defensive formation, carriers launching starfighters, and Star Destroyers moving into forward position. Admiral Genna Delpin stood aboard the bridge of the Corellian Dreadnaught the _Thrackan Sal-Solo_, one of the task force's two Corellian Dreadnaughts, the _Sal-Solo_ was also the only ship remaining from the original assault fleet, which it had been the flagship for. The assault fleet had been built in secret by the Corellian government, and had been used to support a disastrous coup attempt in the Hapes Cluster. The fleet had been decimated, and Delpin, who had led the assault, had barely managed to flee with the _Sal-Solo_, and her life.

She had expected to be demoted upon her return to Corellia, but had instead been promoted to the position of Supreme Commander of the Corellian Fleet, and was now leading a Confederation task force to assault and occupy the Galactic Alliance world of Arkania, which was ideally placed as a staging area for the Confederation to advance on the Core worlds, and in particular, Coruscant. However, the Galactic Alliance had no intention whatsoever of allowing the Confederation to even come within striking distance of the galactic capital. The forces that the Alliance had assigned to protecting Arkania were numerous and well equipped to resist any enemy force.

Delpin turned to her crew and began barking orders, "Communications, order the fleet to advance on the Alliance forces in battle formation Zeta, helm bring us to the point of the formation, starfighter, control, launch all starfighters in screens. The crew complied, quickly, and efficiently, carrying out Delpin's orders. The Confederation fleet moved forward, starfighters boiling out of their launching bays like kag bugs from a broken drain, and forming into screens to protect the capital ships of the armada. The task force was quite large, boasting two Corellian Dreadnaughts, both the _Thrackan Sal-Solo_, and another Dreadnaught, this one fresh from the yards at Selonia, the _Garm Bel-Iblis_. Both Fondor and Commenor had assigned several of their Star Destroyers to the task force; Fondor had sent a group of _Imperial-II _Star Destroyers, while Commenor had dispatched several older, _Imperial-I_ Star Destroyers, as well as a few _Strike_-class cruisers. The core of the task force was made up by the Bothan Assault Cruisers, of which Bothawui had sent over a dozen; it was their presence, which would give the Confederation the edge it would need to defeat the GA forces.

The Galactic Alliance fleet surged toward the Confederation force, starfighters racing ahead to engage the enemy screens, while the capital ships opened fire with ranged weaponry, several of them possessing the new, long-range turbolasers that were still quite rare among the Alliance navy. The long-range batteries had an immediate and devastating effect, as most of the Confederation ships had not yet engaged their shields, and were unable to protect themselves from the enemy salvos.

Long-range battery fire continued to fire at the Confederation fleet, and, due to their lack of the new and innovative technology, the Confederation was unable to retaliate. They were forced to tolerate the attack throughout their approach, and were unable to retaliate until they reached normal weapons range. However, that range was quickly approaching, and the GA ships began to silence their long-range weapons, so as to have power ready to the normal turbolasers and cannons.

The Confederation met the Alliance defenders with all guns blazing; the Dreadnaughts charged ahead, intent on breaking into the enemy formation, and destroying the fleet from the inside. Alliance warships blasted away the Dreadnaughts with abandon, their point-defence weapons creating such a wall of turbolaser fire, that the Dreadnaught's advance was being halted, their shields unable to deal with such firepower. The battle quickly developed into a slugging match, with capital ships blasting away at each other at point-blank range, and starfighters dogfighting throughout the chaos, vaporizing enemy ships with vicious eagerness. The Alliance force was fighting ferociously, comprised of _Nebula_-class Star Destroyers, _Endurance_ and _Defender_-class carriers, and _Warrior_-class gunships, they were inflicting great losses on the Confederation fleet, thought the Confederation was fighting just as hard, dealing as much death as they suffered.

Confederation and Alliance Star Destroyers fought with great savagery, their awesome firepower delivering torrents of turbolaser and ion cannon fire, their projectile launchers delivering crippling volleys of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles, shields on the great ships collapsed, overwhelmed by the immense amounts of firepower, while smaller ships caught in between the exchanges were completely vaporized.

The Corellian Dreadnaughts engaged the enemy flagship, the _Endurance_-class cruiser/carrier _Resilient_, their turbolasers raining fire onto the capital ships, and trying its shields with massive volleys of concussion missiles. However, the Resilient was not taking the barrage sitting down, it, along with its escorts, a pair of Warrior-class gunships returned fire with a vengeance, and salvos of over a hundred proton torpedoes launched from the gunships and the _Resilient_, overwhelming the shields of the _Garm Bel-Iblis_, causing them to collapse, and leaving the ship defenceless. The gunships next salvo impacted onto the Dreadnaught's hull, causing multiple explosions, and a severe loss of structural integrity. The third salvo penetrated deep into the Dreadnaught's core, and managed to breach the main reactor, causing secondary and tertiary explosions, which left the once-great warship dead in space. Moments later, the breached reactor went supercritical, and exploded in a vast explosion, which tore the _Garm Bel-Iblis_ apart. However, the third salvo from the enemy ships was also the last, the _Thrackan Sal-Solo_, fired, concentrating all of it's firepower into a pair of salvos, which reduced both gunships to fireballs, and washed over the _Resilient_, breaking through it's shields to damage multiple areas, including the bridge, which was consumed in a fiery explosion.

Starfighters rocketed across the battlefield, some engaging each other in dogfights, while others conducted bombing raids on enemy capital ships. The Alliance starfighters outnumbered those of the Confederation, and were vaporizing their counterparts with deadly precision. The Alliance carriers gushed a second wave of fighters into space, these ones were not the light interceptors or bombers of the first wave, but rather the heavily armed assault fighters of the Alliance, the dreaded B-wings.

Hundreds of the cross-shaped fighters were swarming the Confederation ships, laser and ion cannons firing non-stop, proton torpedoes shooting outward. Alliance Star Destroyers launched massive salvos of concussion missiles, bringing down the shields of several Bothan Assault Cruisers. The gunships dashed in, firing all of their weapons at the unshielded cruisers, destroying two, and damaging several more.

The captain of the _Resilient_ had perished on the bridge, but the Admiral in charge of the task force had made it to the auxiliary bridge safe and sound. Admiral Kir Vantai, commander of the Sixth Fleet task force, ordered all starfighters to abandon their dogfighting, and instead swarm the _Sal-Solo_, if the Alliance could kill the task force commander, then the Confederation might retreat. He was not aware of the _Imperial-II_ Star Destroyer waiting just outside the system, observing the battle, waiting for the right opportunity.

ANAKIN SOLO, ASSEMBLY POINT FIVE MINUTES AWAY FROM ARKANIA

The newly minted Darth Caedus sat in his meditation chair, watching the holodisplay of the Battle of Arkania unfold, frowning as the Alliance ships began to vanish in fiery explosions. From his observation bubble, he could see the distant flashes of light that represented the destruction of Alliance capital ships. He touched his chair comlink, "Lieutenant Krova" he said,

"Yes, sir?" his communications officer responded.

"Tell Commander Twizzl that the order is to jump," he commanded

"It will be done, sir" she replied.

A moment later, stars vanished into starlines, and the Anakin Solo made the jump to hyperspace. Twenty seconds later, it re-emerged, just off to the side of the battle, Caedus touched the comlink "Hold here, all weapons, hold fire."

The Anakin Solo's guns remained silent, and the Alliance ships continued to explode, the Confederation's Bothan Assault Cruisers were winning the day, just as they had been expected to. However, the Confederation was in for a surprise, and Darth Caedus was about to provide it.

Reaching deep into the Force, Caedus began to call upon the vast energies of the cosmos, channelling all of his Force energy into the task. Slowly, a vast cloud of shimmering energy began to form in front of the Anakin Solo, the power within it crackling and flashing. Caedus continued to harness the power, building it up into a massive storm, one that would crush the Confederation ships into scrap. The storm began to grow restless, developing a mind of it's own, it wanted to be let loose, to destroy. Caedus poured all of his willpower into keeping it chained, but it was becoming too powerful.

All of a sudden, it broke loose, and starfire began to spread outward, seizing Confederation capital ships and crushing them, with massive gravitic force. Superhot plasma energy engulfed hundreds of starfighters, incinerating them, leaving nothing but cosmic dust behind. The storm was doing what Caedus had wanted it to do, but it was also out of control. Plasma energy was everywhere, reducing what remained of the Alliance task force to ash, sweeping down onto Arkania itself, vaporizing defense platforms, and plunging through the atmosphere, to sear cities, ignite forests, and boil oceans.

Caedus gasped in amazed horror, this wasn't supposed to happen, the storm was no longer under his control. It was hungry, and unless he could stop it, it was going to keep devouring whatever it could until it ran out of energy. He reached out with his will, attempting to halt the storm's progress, to dissipate it prematurely, but he was already drained from his creation of the storm, and had no power left to try and stop it. There was only one thing left that he could do, run.

Activating his comlink, he barked "Lieutenant Krova, tell navigation to get us out of here, now."

The normally cool and calm woman was clearly frazzled "Yes Colonel, we are already preparing to jump, but we still have to recover our fighters."

Caedus's eyes bulged in terror, the storm was reaching out to the Anakin Solo, already causing the shields to overload and collapse. "Now, leave the fighters, get us out now," he shrieked into the comlink. The Anakin Solo turned away from the planet, the storm rupturing hull plates, and killing hundreds of crewmen. Fire washed over the Star Destroyer, and the deck shook violently, nearly hurling Caedus out of his chair. For one agonizing second it looked like the storm had overtaken them, then the stars vanished into starlines, and the Anakin Solo vanished into hyperspace.

Leaning back into his meditation chair, Caedus struggled to breath, his air coming in exhausted gasps. He had known that the technique of Force Storms was extremely dangerous, he knew that Palpatine, it's only known master had been unable to control them once they were created, but he had thought that he could. He shook his head and shuddered, never again he thought. The storm had won him the battle, but had cost him the entire planet, and had nearly killed him. He would have to make do with Battle Meditation to defeat the Confederation, because Force Storms were simply too unpredictable.

Epilogue

The severely damaged Thrackan Sal-Solo exited hyperspace in the Corellian system. Admiral Delpin had been forced to flee, when the Alliance starfighters had swarmed her flagship. Turning to the communications officer, she said "Contact the task force at Arkania, ask for a status report." The officer looked at her, "No response Admiral, not from any of the ships." Delpin frowned, and looked out at the stars in confusion, and wondered what in the name of the Force had happened


End file.
